Jeff Trimble, a traction fan from California, recently visited the museum and took a tour of the 205. It wasn't the first time he'd seen the car, though - he helped move it back in 1989! At the time it was one of three cars owned by Bob Hively (the other two were Brill Master Units from Yakima, WA) and stored in Snoqualmie, Washington at the Northwest Railway Museum. NRM needed more space and asked that the cars be removed, so Hively had them transported down to Yakima to the trolley operation there, which at the time was using a Portuguese streetcar and a couple of non-revenue pieces original to the operation. The Master Units were moved on Army trucks while the 205 was transported on a truck belonging to Paul Class. Only a couple of years later Bob Hively passed away. After his death all three cars were acquired by the group in Yakima, with the 205 quickly being put up for sale. The rest, as they say, is history.
Jeff was kind enough to send us some photos of the move. Thanks!
The 205 - at the time painted in an approximation of the livery it wore on Portland Traction, where it was numbered 4003 - sits in Snoqualmie with the two Yakima Master Units behind it. The car was in rough shape at the time, having spent three decades sitting unprotected in a rain forest area.
The car is eased onto a ramp for loading onto a truck. This part of the car is currently the southwest corner and has been cosmetically restored.
Some of the people involved in moving the cars, with the 205 in the background loaded atop a Gales Creek Enterprises (Paul Class) truck with the Master Units beyond.
